The Rolling Stone will be playing two historical concerts in China, but four of their most famous songs will be missing. The Chinese government has deemed them inappropriate.
The band were told they cannot play Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman, Beast of Burden and Let's Spend the Night Together, said Chen Jixin, head of Beijing Time New Century Entertainment.
The Stones are due to play two concerts in the country, in Shanghai on 1 April and in Beijing on 4 April.
Chen said she did not know why the government had banned the four songs.
The same four were cut from the Chinese release of the band's last compilation album, 40 Licks, by the China culture ministry.
Hopefully the band will listen and cooperate. I know it's censorship and it's wrong, but the Chinese are trying to take steps in the right direction. If the Rolling Stones blow it, why should they let anyone else come play a concert there?
"Hopefully the band will listen and cooperate. I know it's censorship and it's wrong, but the Chinese are trying to take steps in the right direction. If the Rolling Stones blow it, why should they let anyone else come play a concert there?"
Who is the idiot who wrote this? It's unsigned. You think people should cooperate with censors? That's outrageous!
I had Dusty move this comment over here so I could address it. BTW: if you create an account, you can reply to everything... accounts are free, and we hate spam with a passion, so we'll never spam you or sell your email address!
That's a legitimate question, so I'll answer it, since I'm the one who made the comment :)
First of all, I do NOT like censorship. I think that it's wrong. However we're not talking about censorship in a free country like the United States. We're talking about communist China.
Remember when artists first started to be allowed into Russia to perform? I know that one of the firsts was the Scorpions. Somewhere in the mid 80's when communism in Russia was still at it's finest, the Scorpions were given the okay to tour there. They complied with every request from the government - what not to play, what not to say, what not to do. And what happened from this? More artists were allowed to come into Russia to perform.
China has been closed off to the "western world" for quite a long time now. They even filter the internet. As far as I know, we're one of the many many sites that aren't allowed in China. It's only been in the last decade or so that've started allowing small influences of the west to creep into their world.
For the Rolling Stones to be even granted their request to play there is a very very big deal. If the Rolling Stones go in, do what they want, and play those 4 songs, the Chinese government could shut off their country to all western artists. If they mess up, it's not just themselves that they're screwing up. They're letting down all of the Chinese people who have been oppressed for so long.
However, if they cooperate and do things as they are told to (even though it's censorship), the Chinese government may allow even more artists into the country to perform.
You can't always look at things in black and white. In this case, it's shades of grey. The Chinese are trying to take steps into the right direction, and if the Rolling Stones screw it up, the government may go backwards again. And that's not good for anyone.
I think you're right on the ball, Curlio... Making major ideological changes in a country (especially one with the largest population in the world... did you know 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese?) isn't just a matter of flipping a light switch. Gee, let's have freedom of expression today. CLICK! Cool. Which switch should we flip next? These changes take time, and I think this is a step in a great direction. But it has to be baby steps...
